Panty hose with crotch insert and method

ABSTRACT

The panty hose, or other type of lower body garment, includes a pair of legs and a panty portion with a crotch patch or insert in the crotch area. The crotch insert is formed by severing a predetermined length from a strip of fabric having a width substantially corresponding to the desired width of the crotch insert so that the insert is substantially diamond-shaped with two of the sides being defined by the diagonal cut lines and the remaining two sides being defined by opposite side edges of the strip. The severing of the strip of fabric to form the diamond shaped crotch insert takes place at the location where the panty hose are formed to eliminate the problem heretofore and encountered in handling crotch inserts of the type which are die cut from wide widths of fabric.

This invention relates generally to the formation of a panty hose typegarment with a crotch insert and more particularly to the formation ofthe crotch insert by diagonally cutting a relatively narrow strip offabric having a width substantially corresponding to the desired widthof the crotch insert.

Diamond-shaped crotch inserts are commonly used in forming panty hosefrom a pair of seamless tubular blanks wherein the tubular blanks arelongitudinally slit from their upper ends and sewn together along thecorresponding slit lines to form the panty portion of the panty hosewith the crotch insert being sewn in position between the slit edges andin the crotch area of the panty hose. The crotch inserts are normallydie cut from a relatively wide piece of knit material with the walesextending parallel to the length of the crotch insert and the coursesextending parallel to the width of the crotch insert and stacks of thesecrotch inserts are provided at the sewing station where the panty hoseblanks are joined together. These stacked crotch inserts tend to clingtogether and it is difficult for the sewing operator to quickly separatethe uppermost crotch insert from the stack and handle the same while itis being sewn in position between the slit edges of the blanks. Also,the stretch characteristics of the crotch insert are somewhat limitedbecause wales and courses are aligned with the length and width of thecrotch insert. The possibility of runs developing in the insert is alsoincreased by the fact that all four edges of the diamond-shaped crotchinsert are cut edges. Conventional panty hose formed of a pair of slitseamless tubular blanks and including a crotch insert are illustrated inU.S. Pat. No. 3,815,156 and the prior patents set forth therein.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a panty hose of the type formed by sewing together a pair ofslit seamless tubular blanks with a diamond-shaped crotch insert in thecrotch area and wherein the crotch insert is formed by diagonallysevering a relatively narrow strip of fabric having a widthsubstantially corresponding to the desired width of the crotch insert.The severing of the strip of fabric takes place at the location wherethe sewing together of the seamless blanks is being carried out so thatthe handling of the crotch insert by the sewing operator is greatlysimplified.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved inthe embodiments illustrated by forming the diamond-shaped crotch insertsfrom a length of warp knit fabric having a width substantiallycorresponding to the desired width of the crotch insert and withadjacent wales formed of chains of stitch loops extending parallel toopposite sides of the length of fabric and courses extending across thelength of fabric. The narrow length of fabric is preferably knit with anopen mesh stitch so that air can pass through the crotch insert formedof the fabric and a moisture absorbent yarn is preferably inlaid on theface side of the fabric which is to be placed on the inside of the pantyportion of the panty hose. The crotch insert is formed by severing thestrip of warp knit fabric along spaced apart, substantially parallel,diagonal lines so that two of the sides of the diamond-shaped crochinsert are defined by the diagonal cut lines and the remaining two sidesare defined by opposite selvage edges of the strip. Since two of thesides of the crotch insert are defined by selvage edges of the knitfabric, the likelihood of runs occurring in the crotch insert isreduced. Also, the arrangement of the wales and courses in the crotchinsert provides that the crotch insert is cut and positioned on the biasin the crotch portion of the panty, thereby increasing the stretchcharacteristics of the crotch insert.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceedswhen taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a seamless knit tubular blank with thelower toe end portion being closed and with the upper portion beinglongitudinally slit in preparation for the formation of a panty hosegarment therefrom;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a roll of a relatively narrow length ofwarp knit fabric of the type from which the crotch inserts are formed;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevational view of a diamond-shaped crotch insertof the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a greatly enlarged view of that portion of the crotch insertenclosed in the dash-dot line rectangle indicated at 4 FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the upper end of a panty hose inpartially assembled condition; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective front view of the panty hose of the presentinvention with the crotch insert positioned in the crotch area.

The lower body garment of the present invention is illustrated in thedrawings in the form of a panty hose which is formed by sewing togethera pair of seamless tubular blanks and includes a panty portion,indicated at P in FIG. 6, and a pair of legs 10, 11 which are suitablyclosed at their lower end portions to provide respective toe ends 12 and13. The toe end portions 12, 13 may be closed in the usual manner andthe leg portions 10, 11 may be provided with the usual reciprocatorilyknit heel and/or toe pockets, if desired.

The panty hose is formed from a pair of seamless knit tubular blanks Band B' (FIG. 5) with each of the blanks being longitudinally slit fromthe upper waist end and downwardly, as indicated at 15 in FIG. 1, for apredetermined distance, depending upon the length required from theupper waist opening to the crotch area of the panty hose. Thediamond-shaped crotch insert or patch, broadly indicated at C, is formedby severing a predetermined length from a strip of fabric having a widthsubstantially corresponding to the desired width of the crotch insertwith the predetermined length being severed from the strip of fabricalong spaced apart, substantially parallel, diagonal lines, indicated bythe dotted lines 16 in FIG. 2, extending across the strip. Thediamond-shaped crotch insert C is thus provided with two of the sides,indicated at 17 and 18 in FIG. 3, being defined by the opposite sideselvage edges of the strip of fabric and the remaining two sides,indicated at 19 and 20, being defined by the diagonal cut lines.

The formation of the crotch insert from the strip of fabric preferablytakes place and at the station where the panty hose blanks are joinedtogether so that the crotch piece may be efficiently handled, eithermanually by the sewing operator, or by an automatic sewing operation. Inthe formation of the panty hose in accordance with the presentinvention, the corresponding slit edges 15, 15' of the blanks B and B'are sewn together, preferably with an overedge seam, as illustrated at22 in FIG. 5, down to a point just above the lower ends of the slits toform the rear seam. Then, a crotch insert is formed by cutting thefabric strip along a diagonal line 16 and the seam 22 is continuedaround and along the sides 17 and 20 of the crotch insert C, asillustrated in FIG. 5. A front seam, indicated at 23 in FIG. 6, is thenformed beginning with the sewing of the slit 15' along the sides 19 and18 of the crotch insert C and then up the front to join the slits 15,15' and to secure the crotch patch C in the crotch area of the pantyportion of the panty hose and between the slit edges and adjacent theends of the slits.

As a specific but non-limiting example, the relatively narrow strip offabric (FIG. 2) from which the crotch insert C is formed is illustratedin FIG. 4 as being warp knit and includes adjacent pairs of chains ofstitch loops extending walewise in wales W-1 through W-6. The chains ofstitch loops are preferably knit of synthetic stretchable textured yarn,such as nylon indicated at N, to form successive courses C-1 throughC-8. The chains of stitch loops are interconnected by an inlaid fillingyarn, indicated at F and extending in a coursewise direction to formselvage along opposite sides of the length of fabric. A moistureabsorbent yarn, such as cotton indicated at M in FIG. 4, is inlaid in azig-zag pattern on one face of the fabric strip and the crotch insert Cis sewn into the crotch area of the panty hose with this face of thefabric on the inside of the panty portion to aid in absorbing anymoisture which might be present.

Thus, the crotch insert C is of generally diamond-shaped configurationwith pointed ends and with the knit wales, indicated by the lines inFIG. 3, extending parallel to the first pair of side edges 17, 18.Courses, indicated by the lines in FIG. 3, extend perpendicular to thewales so that the crotch insert C is sewn into the crotch portion of thepanty on the bias. The knit strip of fabric is three inches wide fromone selvage edge to the other in relaxed condition and the diagonallines of cut 16 (FIG. 2) are made at an angle of approximately 50° fromthe selvage edges 17, 18. The distance between the diagonal cuts issubstantially equal to the length of the cuts and each of the side edges17-20 is three and three quarter inches long while the width of thecrotch insert C is three and one quarter inches and the length of thecrotch insert is six and one half inches.

Although the strip of fabric is illustrated in FIG. 2 as being formedinto a roll, it is to be understood that the strip of fabric may befolded or suitably coiled into a recepticle from which it may be easilyremoved. The individual crotch inserts C can be readily formed at oneend by diagonally cutting the strip material along the dash dot lines 16in the manner indicated in FIG. 2. While the sewing of the crotch patchC has been described as manually carried out by the sewing operator, itis to be understood that the formation of the crotch inserts from astrip of material may also be carried out in an automatic orsemi-automatic operation. The use of a continuous strip of frabric willfacilitate the automatic slitting and sewing of the hosiery blanksbecause it is possible to feed the strip material into position so thatthe leading end of the angular cut strip material may be sewn inposition and severed before completing the sewing of the crotch insertand the hosiery blanks.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A lower body garment comprising(a) a pairof seamless knit legs, (b) a panty portion formed of extensionsintegrally knit with said legs, said extensions being longitudinallyslit and seamed together, and (c) a separate single ply crotch insert ofwarp knit material of generally diamond-shaped configuration withpointed ends and first and second pairs of parallel side edges, saidknitted crotch insert including wales extending parallel to said firstpair of side edges, and courses extending perpendicular to the wales,said first pair of side edges comprising selvage edges, and said secondpair of side edges comprising cut edges, and (d) seam means connectingsaid first and second pairs of side edges to the slit edges of saidextensions so that the crotch insert is positioned on the bias in thecrotch portion of the panty.
 2. A lower body garment according to claim1 wherein said warp knit crotch insert includes interconnected chains ofstitch loops extending wale-wise and being knit of synthetic stretchabletextured yarn, and wherein the face of said crotch insert on the insideof said panty portion includes moisture absorbent yarn inlaid in andextending between said chains of stitch loops.
 3. A method of forming alower body garment from a pair of seamless tubular blanks, the garmentincluding a panty portion and a pair of legs, said method comprising thesteps of(a) longitudinally slitting each of the seamless tubular blanksfrom one end and inwardly a predetermined distance, (b) forming a crotchinsert for said garment by severing a predetermined length from a stripof fabric having a width substantially corresponding to the desiredwidth of the crotch insert, said predetermined length being severed fromsaid strip along spaced apart, substantially parallel, diagonal linesextending across said strip so that said crotch insert is diamond-shapedwith two of the sides of the diamond-shape being defined by the oppositeside edges of said strip and the remaining two sides being defined bythe diagonal cut lines, and (c) sewing together the corresponding slitedges of the pair of tubular blanks while sewing the diamond-shapedcrotch insert to the pair of tubular blanks between the slit edges andadjacent the ends of the slits.
 4. A method of forming a lower bodygarment from a pair of seamless tubular blanks, the garment including apanty portion and a pair of legs, said method comprising the steps of(a)longitudinally slitting each of the seamless tubular blanks from one endand inwardly a predetermined distance, (b) forming a length of fabric ofa relatively narrow width, (c) diagonally cutting at spaced locationsextending parallel and across the narrow length of fabric, the distancebetween the diagonal cuts being substantially equal to the length of thecuts to produce a diamond-shaped crotch insert, and (d) sewing togetherthe corresponding slit edges of the tubular blanks while sewing thediamond-shaped crotch insert in position between the tubular blanks andadjacent the ends of the slits to secure the crotch insert in the crotcharea of the panty portion of the garment.
 5. A method according to claim4 wherein the narrow length of fabric is formed by warp knittingsynthetic stretchable yarns and forming chains of stitch loops extendingparallel to opposite sides of the narrow length of fabric.
 6. A methodaccording to claim 5 including the steps of inlaying filling yarn in acoursewise direction to connect together the chains of stitch loops andform selvage edges along the opposite sides of the length of fabric. 7.A method according to claim 6 including the steps of inlaying moistureabsorbent yarn in a zig-zag pattern on one face of the narrow length offabric while connecting the moisture absorbent yarn to the chains ofstitch loops, and sewing the diamond-shaped crotch insert in the crotcharea with the face including the moisture absorbent yarn on the insideof the panty portion.